Customer Reviews

Life After the 30-Second Spot: Energize Your Brand With a Bold Mix of Alternatives to Traditional Advertising

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I reviewed this over at the CMA - Canadian Marketing Association - Website and I thought it was appropriate to post it here as well...

Life After The 30-Second Spot

You should own this book. I don't even know you, but I know enough that if you're reading this, you are somehow involved in advertising, marketing and communications and that means that you (and everyone you know in this space) should be clutching a copy of Life After The 30-Second Spot - Energize Your Brand with a Bold Mix of Alternatives to Traditional Advertising by Joseph Jaffe. If you employ people or know someone studying our world, they should be forced to read this book before starting their first day on the job. My guess is, this is the one book most marketers wished they had written (I know I wish I had written it) or are scared to read.

You're right, that's a strong statement to make - especially about a book - but it is well deserved.

Jaffe points a sniper rifle at the advertising world and picks off great (and new) opportunities one at a time. By identifying ten quick wins and how to execute them (or, at least, why you should be paying attention to them), Jaffe shines as a marketer who is more inclined to grow a business organically than hop on the word-of-mouth buzz-hype of the moment (which usually results in a quick jump up in brand lift and then a much sharper drop down to irrelevance).

How often have advertising agencies pulled clients aside and proposed a gaming, experiential or branded entertainment program? It's not always an easy subject for marketers to broach with their clients. Now, thanks to Life After The 30-Second Spot, you have the manual. Jaffe does not provide all of the gory details and answers, but there are enough insights to spark your curiosity and construct a long-term plan that works.

So, is the 30-second spot really dead, or is this Jaffe's marketing shtick to get you reading? "Consumers aren't as stupid as they used to be," Jaffe muses. "Rumors of its (the 30-second spot) demise may very well be exaggerated, but they are irrelevant. Using the 30-second spot today is like taking a wooden sword to fight a fire-breathing dragon. You better have fire insurance."

That "fire-breathing dragon" is you and me. Life After The 30-Second Spot follows the same logic path as anyone who is following Web 2.0, Listenomics and Brand Democratization. It's getting harder and harder to jam 30-seconds of original exaggeration into a push channel that people hardly care about anymore. We're all off IM'ing each other as we create a MySpace and Blog about how bad the new screens are on the iPod Nano.

Jaffe uses many real-life examples of brands and companies to highlight the success of people who have already dared, and mixes in his own clever writing pace and humor to keep the book from going dry with academic marketing slang - he's a cunning linguist. If you're looking for that New-Year's-resolution-to-start-reading book, look no further than Life After The 30-Second Spot... it may even make you reconsider some of your marketing-related resolutions for 2006.

Final note: I got Life After The 30-Second Spot for free from Joseph Jaffe. I heard him speak here in Montreal and signed up to be a part of his UNM2PNM - Use New Marketing to Prove New Marketing program. If I did not love Life After The 30-Second Spot, I would have said so. This really is a must-read.

Reviewed by:
Mitch Joel
Twist Image

"Life After the 30-Second Spot" is an excellent book for those not only in the corporate media world but for students who will be tomorrow's leaders. It is a engaging, jargon-free, and practical primer on the power of branding in today's media-saturated world that can serve the disciplines of film and television studies, communication, and business.

It is not enough for students to study the media as independent entities or media texts as having some kinds of universal and unilateral meaning handed down by corporations and marketers. Joseph Jaffe makes it clear that consumers have greater empowerment over their media habits than any other time in history and the media world better beware! Today's consumers are more fickle, disloyal, and connected so it is best that students (who embody the early range of the 18-34 advertising sweet-spot)start thinking early about themselves and their future career plans. This book accomplishes just that.

Jaffe intelligently demonstrates how media clutter, fragmentation, and proliferation have changed the way that coprporations conduct their business for new patterns of consumption. To deliver reach and audiences, he suggests that products need to be brands, multi-platform goods and services available twenty-four hours a days at a variety of touch points. It's all about content now and students can realize from this book the range of opportunities currently available in the media industries for creative and financial gain.

I strongly recommend this book over any other book that deals with the integration of entertainment and advertising. Jaffe's ideas and approaches will remain with us for many years to come. It is a book ahead of its time.

For anyone remotely involved with advertising and brand communications, if you haven't already, you should read Joseph Jaffe's excellent, thought provoking and brave book. In the foreword Don Schultz says 'this is the book I wish I had written'. I'm sure many more people will feel the same.

It's time to get our heads out the sand and realise that technology, media and consumers have changed dramatically. But advertising hasn't. We must move on. A continued reliance on the 30-second spot as the mainstay of all media strategies just isn't going to cut it. Jaffe brilliantly lays down the arguments and ideas for Life After The 30 Second Spot.

If you're already thinking ahead of the 30-second spot or if you're in a state of denial or anywhere in between - read Jaffe's book. And check out his blog site too jaffejuice.com.

Can't wait for the sequel.

Joseph Jaffe has hit the nail on the head, with a perspective on advertising media that is as original as it is comprehensive. Life After the 30-Second Spot is a must-read for marketing professionals and students - particularly the section on "Approaches That Are Transforming the Marketing and Advertising Games," which is full of hands-on examples on how a changing media environment is changing marketing as a whole.

Last but not least, Jaffe is a great writer - passionate, witty and entertaining from first page to last.

What's unique about Jaffe's book relative to others is its reliance on data and analysis for conclusions -- he's a participant in the trends he documents and not merely an observer. The prose is entertaining and a fluid read, with well placed anecdotes supplementing the data and conclusions. Strongly recommended.

It's no surprise that the internet, TiVo and fragmentation are impacting advertising. Add to that ad-resistant consumers and video & computer gaming. But, Jaffe's all over the phenomenon with in-depth analysis and insights on current and future advertising and marketing trends. But you don't have to be an advertising insider or an MBA to get the concepts--Jaffe's writing is funny & breezy and he's able to break down complex ideas and communicate them clearly. Plus, he elicits input from experts in various related fields. Their examples show you neo advertising in action--pretty cool. Basically, Jaffe takes a Darwinian approach to traditional advertising and advertisers--adapt or die. Which is not the happiest thing if you think a 30-second spot is a thing of beauty. But, it's reality and Jaffe also offers innovative business solutions and ways to reach consumers. Anyone interested in advertising and marketing will find this book thought provoking.

This book is an excellent tool for those individuals that spend most of their time figuring out how they find their consumers. Jaffe points out that the complacent herd of dinosaurs that are clinging on to the 30-Second Spot will become extinct if they do not look for alternative mediums to reach and target their message (online, email, mobile, blogs, etc).

Jaffe offers some sound advise, draws upon deep industry knowledge takes the reader through very real examples.

Readers will also enjoy the spicy commentary that Jaffe offers as well as his very open and honest perspective. This book is a must have for brand managers, media planners, creative directors, web publishers, broadcasters, (basically anyone who is in charge of spending money to market a brand).

First off, I'll say up front that I rec'd a review copy of this book for online publication. Second, I've got to say that this was one of the more ground-breaking and can't-put-down nonfiction books I've read in a really long time. It's pretty rare that you want to read more about business practices, television advertisements, and contextual advertising, but that's what happened with me reading this. Joe's a great guy to read and listen to, and I would highly recommend checking out this book. It's very well done, incorporates some excellent commentary by outside experts, and definitely makes you think.

Jaffe has done a fine job with this book, the basic premise is that if you think marketing is all about advertising, you'd best check your buggy whip and 8 track player at the door.

The real meat is in section 3 that covers 10 factors that are changing the marketing landscape:

1. Internet
2. Gaming
3. On-Demand Viewing
4. Experiential Marketing
5. Long Form Content
6. Communal Marketing
7. Consumer-Generated Content
8. Search
9. Music and Mobile
10. Branded Entertainment

If you want to get up to speed on where the money is going to be in the future for marketers, or if you want to save your organization millions in consulting to get you up to speed - this is a great place to start. Even better, the book is in a conversational style with plenty of humor that makes it an easy read.

"Life After the 30-Second Spot" is not simply an effective tool for advertisers that are interested in next-level ideals. The pages of this book are wrought with creative inspiration for folks in any line of work.

If you have a computer and some free time, this book could be the impetus to web design. If you're an aspiring actor, you might have a sudden burst of thought regarding a new way of marketing yourself. In fact, I could conceivably see a reader deciding on an entirely new employment path.

This is a book that can touch just about every area of humanity. I was not familiar with Mr. Jaffe's name until I heard him on a radio program in July. I picked the book up in September and was extremely impressed.

There will, I guarantee, be at least a portion of the book that inspires you to try something out of the ordinary.